


The Hostage

by AndyHood



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Kane Chronicles - Rick Riordan
Genre: Crossover, Desjardins is evil, Don't mess with the Gods children, F/M, Hurt Percy, I'm Bad At Summaries, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-07
Updated: 2013-08-04
Packaged: 2017-12-18 01:21:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 20,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/874056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AndyHood/pseuds/AndyHood
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Percy thought it would just be a fun trip to central park with his mother, see the sights, and a visit to the muesum, but things turn to the worst when he is kidnapped by the House of Life to be used in a plan to shut the Egyptian Gods up for good. Can his friends save him?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

For the first time in months Percy Jackson didn't have to worry about a prophecy or any other life and death situation, and he was glad of it. In fact everything was quiet, it had been awhile since he had to fight any monsters, and he was glad for it. He thought it would be an average weekend at home catching up on some of his homework, daydreaming of his girlfriend Annabeth, but his mom had different plans.

"Come on Percy, we haven't spent a day together in the longest time," Sally Jackson said, "we can go to Central Park and the museum, come on it will be fun." Sally had been after him for weeks for the two of them to do something together before he left for Camp Half-Blood for the summer.

"Alright, I'll go with you," said Percy, he was feeling really guilty. After the Battle of Olympus, he had been trying to have a normal life again, but in the process he hadn't been spending a lot of time with his mother. So he felt like he owed it to her, since she was the coolest mom every, he would do his homework later.

"Great, I heard that the museum near Central Park has an amazing collection of Egyptian artifacts, the death mask of King Tut is on display for the week," said Sally "it's on a world tour before being shipped back to the museum in Cairo. It's the first time in 20 years that it has been in New York"

"Sounds fun", said Percy. I

If only he knew what was about to happen to him would have ran away from that museum as though all the Furies were after him. But alas fate was to be cruel to young Percy Jackson.

Egypt, First Nome.

Michel Desjardins was in a bad mood, the plan to seal all the Egyptian gods away again was not working as planned. He just didn't have enough power to do it, not even if all of the magicians in the First Nome together had enough power to take on the Gods. When the Gods were locked away in the first place, the House of Life was filled with magicians and they had defeated the Gods easily. But it had slipped a lot since then. They received only a handful of new magicians each year to come train, the other Nome's had reported the same thing. The only way to seal the gods away again was to have power like the gods. That was when the wheels of fate started. An idea struck Desjardins, why not use the powers of gods but just not Egyptian.

Desjardins knew that the Greek gods where still powerful. But how would he make them do his bidding, when he remembered one of their weaknesses. Desjardins knew about demigods and how much their parents cared, even when they weren't supposed to show it. He was smart enough to realize that his idea went against the ancient treaties concerning the Egyptians and the Greeks, but it was a risk he was willing to take. If he could kidnap enough demigods he could force the Greek gods to do his will. Only then could he finally have the Egyptian gods back to where they belonged, the Duat, never to be heard of again.

He turned to Mel, who was waiting to tell Desjardins his reports about the new recruits that had been brought in. "Mel, get me in contact with the magicians in the Twenty-First Nome," said Desjardins with a cruel smile on his face.

Mel immediately dropped his reports and began to chant a spell on the large mirror, opposite of Chief Lector's desk. While Mel was contacting the other magicians, Desjardins thought of his plan. He had to get all of his bases covered, or else the gods could kill him and then take back their children. He will have to scare the gods into thinking that he would kill the demigods, which wasn't a bad idea. One less demigod in the world was fine with Desjardins. But how could he control the demigod's powers while he had them. Some demigods were very powerful. Then he remembered the perfect solution, the Collars of Duat. The collars were meant to hold a prisoner, making sure they couldn't use their powers, often causing large amounts of pain. If they put the first demigod they captured into one, then it would scare any other demigods they captured into not doing anything stupid.

"The conference is ready, Chief Desjardin" said Mel.

"Good" said Desjardins, who turned to face the glowing mirror, a young man's face could be seen in it.

"Farid, it's good to see you, the Kane's haven't been giving you trouble?"

"No, everything is quite on the western front, the Kane's haven't been around much, but I have someone watching them 24/7" said Farid.

"Excellent, that will help with the job I want you to do, this is important Farid. The very future of the House of Life depends on it, do you think you and your men are up to it?" Desjardins said.

"As a magician of the House of Life, it is my duty to respect your wishes and serve you, Chief Lector, I am your vassal, do with me that you please" said Farid.

Desjardin smiled, if only all of his people where this loyal. "Farid, I need you to begin capture of demigods immediately. The first one you capture, put it in a Collar of Duat, and make sure you send a message to the Greek Gods, do you think you can do that?"

"Yes, in fact there is one now in Central Park, my men picked up his power mark, he is a very powerful demigod," said Farid.

"Good, start with that one, and Farid, DO NOT FAIL ME, conference over." The mirror in front of him dimmed, reflecting Desjardins face. He realized Mel was still there.

"Mel, start preparing the dungeon for our demigods guests."

"Of course, Desjardin," said Mel quickly as he left.

Desjardin leaned back in his chair, he loved it when a plan came together, but this was just the beginning. Soon all of his troubles with the gods will be over, and with that the Kanes as well.

"Well Julius, you might see your children sooner then you thought," said Desjardin aloud laughing. He sat back and waited for Farid's message to come.

Farid POV

Farid spotted the demigod almost immediately after entering the park. He was surprised that the demigod was all alone in public. From what he could tell, this boy was very powerful; power seemed to roll off of him in waves. But he was calmly sitting next to an older woman enjoying a picnic lunch in which everything was blue, from blue sandwiches to blue cookies with matching blue blanket, cups, and plates.

Farid studied the boy; he was average height with black hair with just a streak of gray in it and sea green eyes. Farid couldn't get over how normal the boy was acting.

He and his men followed both of them as they walked; Farid noticed that the boy patted every horse that the duo came across, getting a distracted look on his face. Something clicked inside Farid's head at that moment, he knew which god this demigod belonged to, Poseidon, god of the sea, and creator of horses. That would explain all the blue, and the obsession with the horses. He reached into the Duat and pulled out a collar, putting spells of deserts and the sun into the collar. If he was right then this would leave the demigod powerless. Even if he wasn't the power of the collar would keep him quiet.

He couldn't believe his luck when the duo went into the museum, it was just too perfect, it was if Fate was smiling on him. If he could capture the boy in the museum, he could use the portal in it to send them to the First Nome. He ordered his men forward, eager to complete his task. Farid only regretted he only having half of his men. The others were chasing down other demigod energy's in the city. If all went well, they would have five demigods within the hour, before the gods could stop them. But, he couldn't shake the feeling that this was wrong. He tried his best to ignore it, the Chief Lector had trusted him personally with this assignment, he couldn't fail.

Percy POV

Percy was enjoying himself at the park. His mother had packed a delicious picnic lunch, making everything blue, which he loved. It was a beautiful day in New York, the sun was out and the sky was blue.

Although it was a weekend the Park was not overly crowed like it had been in the past. He and his mom walked the paths talking about school, and over things. They stopped every time they passed a horse.

"Hey my Lord, would you like a ride?" They all asked, Percy had to graciously tell them no, telling them his mother and him were in no hurry and giving them a pat on the shoulder. Percy was glad that they didn't push him into riding, they respected him too much to do that.

The back of his neck prickled constantly, like someone was looking at him. But whenever he turned around, there was nobody there. He just shrugged it off, as his mom dragged him into the museum, catching the beginning of a tour.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The House of Life makes its move, and Percy gets captured.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hurt Percy, defensive demi-gods.

So this is Egyptian culture, thought Percy, he and his mom had just caught a tour, Sally was listening to the tour guide with rapt attention. The Egyptian where weird people, Percy deducted, who worshiped half animal half human gods? The tour guide had lead them into a room full of clay statues, what did the tour guide say? Shabit, shatties, he didn't know but there tour guide looked like he grew up in ancient Egypt.

It wasn't totally boring, the death mask of King Tut was cool. But he couldn't get over the way they buried their dead, trying to make the dead look like they were still alive.

"Percy hurry up, don't lag behind the group," said Sally, as the tour guide lead the group into a different room.

"Okay", said Percy. But he had the strangest feeling that he was being watch, he had it since they left the Park. It seemed to be getting worse, it was a constantly prickly feeling on the back of his neck. The tour was all out of the room when Percy noticed his shoelace untied and he bent down to tie it. Although it had taken him less than a minute to do so, when he stood up again he was surrounded by people dressed in weird white clothing. How so many entered the room without making a sound was baffling.

"Surrender young demigod, or face the wrath of the House of Life" said one of the guys who looked to be the leader.

"Who in Hades are you and why should I be afraid of you?" said Percy, although he was nervous he didn't get the monster vibe off of them, never the less he started reaching for Riptide.

"I am Farid, a magician of the House of Life, surrender now or you will be harmed," stated the leader, pulling out a staff from the air. Percy had no idea where it came from. It had looked like Farid had reached out in front of him and pulled it out of thin air.

"Well I'm Percy Jackson and I want to know why you are wearing pajamas in the middle of the day"

Farid sneered at the comment.

"If that is how you want to play it, prepare to lose demigod. Per- Halm" said Farid, and giant balls of fire rushed towards Percy. Percy laughed and grabbed each flaming ball by his bare hands and flung them back towards the ring of magicians, drawing Riptide all within the same moment. Farid was open-mouthed amazed for a second, how did the demigod do that without being burnt to a crisp. One of the balls Percy threw was coming at him, but he was too quick. He shouted another spell pointing his staff at the balls of flame, instantly changing the fire balls into a bunch of knives and directed them towards Percy. Percy didn't even try to run as the barrage of knives came hurtling forward. He swatted most of them away with Riptide, the one that he missed bounced of his skin. He was glad that the knives were coming from one direction. He would have been at a loss if the knives attacked both of his sides, he would have never been able to defend his Heel if that happened. That gave all the information Farid needed to know, the demigod in front of him was invincible, he stopped all of attacks to stare at the boy in front of him. He looked around at his group of magicians, when something caught his eye, two of his magicians apparently had left the fight to bring some much needed leverage to the situation.

"So the little demigod is invincible, but is your mother?" said Farid, as the two magicians entered the room for all to see, dragging Sally with them. Farid turned his attention back to the demigod, who had a look of horror on his face. "Throw me your sword and surrender yourself and I promise that she will be let go, unharmed. If you continue to fight I will send her to the to the Duat, a place of her worst nightmares, which would be worse than death. It filled with beasts that would make a man's blood turn to ice. So choose demigod, you or your mother."

Percy looked at his mom, her eyes were saying to run and leave her, but this wasn't like the minotaur Percy realized there would be no ransoming his mother back, or chance to save her like the last time. He was up against a brick wall, and there was only one way out.

"Alright, I surrender, just let my mother go," said Percy, throwing Riptide over to Farid. But the magician didn't release Sally, if not he gripped her arm tighter.

"I said I would but first I have to leave a message on her," said Farid, with that he started to make a spell and after he was done, there was a set of burning hieroglyphics on Sally's arm. "Now go take this little message to Mount Olympus if you want your son to live," Farid told Sally.

"No, take me instead; let Percy go, please, he's my only child!" by this time tears was streaming down Sally's face.

Farid looked at her like he was sorry, but the expression so disappeared like he remembered something. "NO, my orders are for your son, not you. You are no use to my cause. Be gone from here before I change my mind." Finally releasing his hold on her arm.

Sally look at Farid, and then ran to Percy hugging him good-bye.

"Don't worry mom, everything will be fine," said Percy, trying to sound confident, but inside he was very scared. More scared than when he feared Annabeth would die.

Before Sally could answer, a magician roughly grabbed her and threw her away from Percy. Another magician escorted her out of the museum. When Sally was out of sight Farid turned back to Percy with a devilish grin on his face.

"Now young demigod its time to go meet your new master, but first a special treat", said Farid, and from his robes he produced one of the collars. Percy tried to escape then, knowing something bad would happen if the collar was put on him. He sprinted towards the exit. Percy managed to escape the first couple of magician that were blocking his path with ease, but that ended when a large magician tackled him from behind when was ten feet away from the exit.

"You are only making this more difficult than it needs to be demigod" said Farid, as he walked up to Percy, who was still on the ground under the magician. Farid knelt down and proceed to put it around Percy's neck. No matter how much he struggled he couldn't get out from underneath the man. As soon as the collar was clasped, Percy felt weak, he could barely raise his head to glare at Farid.

"You like? I especially made this collar to be opposite of your powers. Your powers come from the oceans, you can draw strength from it. The collar is harnessed with the powers of the desert and the sun, accentually draining your powers, keeping you as weak as a kitten. I will have to tinker with it, it has to be modified for your invincibility," he said. The magician finally got off of Percy, who was in no shape now to run away. Two magicians grabbed him beneath his arms, hauling him to his feet.

With that they lead him to the Portal and went into the first Nome. The rest of Farid's magicians were already there, surrounding a group of demigods that they had captured. All were restrained, sitting on the ground. The only girl that had been captured was heavily restrained, even now she was pulling on her bonds yelling insults to Farid's magicians, demanding to be let go, she had put up quite a fight. The others were also voicing protests, but all fell quite when Percy was thrown into their mists.

"Percy?" questioned the boy with blonde hair and storm gray eyes. Percy only raised his head to look at him weakly before letting it sink back down.

"What have you done to him!" demanded the girl. She seemed afraid that Percy was so weak. Clarisse who was the girl, was indeed afraid. Everyone in camp knew that Percy was invincible, nothing could hurt. Whoever these House of Life people where, they weren't powerless.

"I have just made sure that he wouldn't cause us any problems," stated Farid.

All the demigods could do was stare at Percy, wondering if their own fates would end like his also.

"Desjardins will know see what you have brought Farid," a man said, it was Mel.

The demigods were hauled to their feet and were forced into a building, each wondering what was in store for them. Why had they been captured in the first place? Who was Desjardins? They were marched down halls filled with power. Images on the walls kept shifting changing times. The magicians finally shoved them in what look like the head honchos office. The man behind the desk smiled at them evilly.

"Welcome young demigods. I am Desjardin head of the House of Life, and I hold your fate in my hands."

Desjardin turned to Farid. "Any trouble bringing them in?"

"A little sir. The daughter of Ares put up quite a fight. So did the son of Poseidon. I will have to modify his collar shortly, apparently he is invincible. The Hermes and Athena kids were easily caught. It is my opinion Sir, that only the son of Poseidon needs to be collared. The others are too powerless to cause us any real problems."

Desjardin stroked his chin deep in thought complementing what Farid had said. "Alright, only the ocean brat will be fitted with a collar. But I suggest that you modify the collar now."

Farid noticed the veiled threat and motion for two of his magicians to hold Percy. He quickly undid the catch. Almost immediately Percy's color came flooding back, and he looked like he was more aware of what was going on around him.

"Try anything demigod, and your friends will die" snared Desjardin.

Percy looked around and saw what Desjardin had meant. Sandwiched between two burly magicians were Clarisse, Malcolm, Travis and Conner. They all looked at each other, all seemed to realize that Desjardin was as dangerous as a Fury.

As Farid put the necessary spells on the collar, Desjardin gloated his plans to the demigods. "Unless your parents do exactly what I say, you will all die."

Percy cast his eyes downwards, not looking up until he saw Farids feet in front of him. Only then did he look up into his eyes. Percy saw something that looked like guilt flash through the young mans eyes. The collar that Farid was holding used to be a ruby red collar, but know it looked more ominous by being so dark of a black that Hades would be scared. He closed his eyes as he felt the cool metal of the collar touch his skin, he heard it clasp ever so softly. The collar stayed cool for about a second longer before it busted on Percy skin with a wave of heat. It felt like every nerve in his body was on fire. He heard himself screaming, the shouts of Clarisse. He would have gladly jumped in the river of Styx ten times again. The pain he was feeling made that fell like he scraped his knee.

He screamed till he could not scream anymore, but he held his mouth open in silent screams. He heard a commotion from outside his cocoon of pain. He opened his eyes to see his friends struggling with the magicians.

"I'm going to make you wish you were never born" yelled an enraged Clarisse. For a moment it looked as if the demigods were winning, but soon re-enforcement arrived and they were again quickly subdued.

"Take all of them to the dungeon. Leave the Poseidon brat, I want the gods to see what were capable of."

Percy drew into himself, desperately fighting back the pain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoped you like, let me know what you think!


	3. Chapter 3

Sally had ran from the museum in a hast, not bothering to say sorry to the people she ran into to. It seemed like hours later when she finally entered the lobby of the Empire State building. She ran towards the elevator. The elderly doorman was behind the desk. Sally marched right up to him, "I need to go to the 600 floor. I have an important message for the gods", said Sally, who was on the edge of hysterics.

The doorman looked at her slowly. "I'm sorry ma'am this is no 600 floors, and if there was it would not be a place for mortals," said the doorman.

That's when Sally snapped, she grabbed the doorman by the collar and half-way dragged the old doorman over the counter. "My son has been kidnapped by magicians and I need to see Poseidon and the other gods now!"

"Okay!, okay, you can go up, just let go before someone sees." said the doorman pushing the button under his desk. "Just don't blame me when the Gods smite you."

Sally threw a glare at the doorman but rushed into the elevator pushing the button that had appeared to go to Olympus. The elevator rose painfully, Sally thought the elevator couldn't go any slower. The music seemed to match her frenzied state, making the elevator seem to go even more slowly. Finally the doors opened and for the first time ever Sally was looking out into Olympus. As she stepped out onto the walkway leading towards the gates, she looked out into space. Bad mistake, she was so high, she began to sway. Suddenly a hand grabbed her elbow.

Sally glanced around to see who the hand belonged to. It was a man, dressed like a delivery man for UPS. Also he was not on the walkway at all, seemingly just floating alongside Sally, until she looked down at his feet. On each foot was a sneaker, and wings were sprouted on each side of the sneaker. Sally didn't need to be told who this was, the shoes gave it away.

"Good-afternoon Miss. Jackson," said Hermes, keeping a firm grip on Sally's elbow until they were at the gates. "I've heard from the doorman that you have a message for the gods. As the God of Messages I have come to see what is it that you need."

Sally just shook her head. "I need to get a message through. I don't know what the message says, its here on my arm," said Sally, rolling up her shirt sleeve. Hermes peered down at the glyphs, he took one look at her arm and gasped, shock clearly written on his face. He then grabbed her by the hand and started toward the throne room. Sally just followed quietly shocked at how worried Hermes was.

While they were walking Hermes sent messages to all of the Gods, demanding them to meet right now, it was an emergency. When they entered the room the Gods were all there looking confused.

Zeus spoke first, "Sally Jackson what is the meaning of this, why are you here."

Hermes answered before Sally could, "Lord Zeus, we have an major problem, Percy has been kidnapped by the House of Life. She bears a message from their leader, show them your arm Sally."

As soon as Zeus's gaze landed on the hieroglyphics they began to glow and soon it was a ball of energy and Desjardins was looking at Zeus.

"Ah good, my little messenger managed to get to you pretty quick," said Desjardins smirking.

"What is the meaning of this, kidnapping my son," said Poseidon, "I should drown your whole secret society right now, and I will if you don't return him now!"

Desjardins began to make a tsking sound, leaning back in his chair putting his hands together. "I wouldn't do that Greek, if you want your son to live to see the next sunrise. I'm sure you think I can't hurt him, with him being invincible and all. But all I have to do is wave my hand and make a can thousand knives plunge into his invincible hide before you can blink. I think the odds of one hitting his "heel" is in my favor. Now I don't what to kill him or the others I have at the moment-"

"WHAT OTHERS!" demanded Zeus, the room began crackle as burst of lightning sprang around. The other gods began to fidget, anger forming on there faces. Even worse than the lightning was the smell of the sea, water began to flow from the ends of Poseidon's trident.

"At the moment I have two sons of Hermes, a Travis and Conner Stroll, a son of Athena, Malcolm, and a daughter of Ares Clarisse, which gave us the most trouble. None of them have been seriously harmed…yet"

"What do you want," spat Zeus. Desjardins smirk grew making it look evil, not even Hades could match it.

"What I want is for you, the Greek Gods, to get rid of the Egyptian Gods that have escaped from there confinement. Send them back to where they came from and never let them escape again. Also, don't send any of your "heroes" to save your children or they will be all be dead."

"How do we even know they are still alive. If you killed them, they would be under Egyptian jurisdiction, so Hades wouldn't have a claim to their souls anymore" demanded Athena.

The Gods nodded, even Hades, everyone knew that Athena was right.

"Fine to show you that what I say is truth I will let you see your miserable brats."

With that the Olympians saw all the taken children. Travis, Conner, Malcolm, and Clarisse all looked fine, with only a few injuries in what looked like a prison. Then the scene shifted to show Desjardins office again, with Percy on the floor. Percy looked awful, he was in the fetal position, and his mouth opened in a soundless scream, eyes flooded with agony.

"What are you doing to my son!" demanded Poseidon leaping from his thrown towards the ball of energy. Ares and Apollo jumped from there thrones and tackled Poseidon before he could touch the energy ball. Desjardins laughter could be heard as they stared at the image of Percy.

"Making sure he doesn't escape, since he is so precious to you. Make sure you get rid of the Egyptian Gods by the end of next week, or all of them are dead. Finally before I take my leave, I want you to swear on the River Styx, that none of you Greeks will send your pathetic heroes to save my prisoners, and that you will send the Egyptian gods back to the Duat. I must warn you that if you think that these five live are expendable, you guessed wrong. I will keep kidnapping demigods until you comply with my demands."

All the gods looked at each other. None of them wanted to do this, but what choice did they have. The parents of the five were willing to do anything to make sure that they survived. They reached a silent agreement and each one swore to Desjardins terms. As soon as the deed was done the energy ball dispersed, a feeling of defeat hung in the throne room. The only one that moved was Poseidon, he turned away from the other gods and took Sally's hand and lead her from the room, taking her home.

Desjardins was sitting in his office triumphant. He turned to the boy still on the ground.

"Take him to the dungeon and put him in with the rest of the rubbish"

Two burly magicians dragged Percy from the office. Desjardin leaned back in his chair, when the gods where finally out of the way, the Kanes would be easy to pick off. Yes thought Desjardin, his plan was coming together perfectly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoped you liked


	4. Chapter 4

When Desjardins energy ball dispersed the gods just sat there in silence for a long time, no one wanting to break the silence. Poseidon returned to this silence and took his place next to his brothers.

"So, what are we going to do?" asked Hermes finally breaking the silence. "We can't do anything, we can't send any of our heroes and if we do our children will be killed. Desjardins also threatens to take more of our children if we don't comply too all of his demands."

"We'll have to call a state of emergency. All half-bloods, no matter how old, along with ones that are too young to have been claimed yet to return to Camp Half-Blood," said Athena. All the gods nodded at that, Hermes sent a message to Chiron to inform the strys to begin to collect all demigods.

Zeus called the gods attention back to him. "Everyone, first let us contact Horus and Isis, we'll discuss what has happened with them before we do anything else."

"Ya, and after we 'discuss' things we can send them back where they came from and get our kids back" said Ares, the flames dancing behind his sunglasses. The other gods just looked at him, he squirmed under there collect stares. "Hey, just because I'm the war god, doesn't mean I don't love my kids"

"Ares, we will not send anyone anywhere until all the cards are on the table. Maybe the Egyptians have a way to help that we have overlooked. Magicians used to serve the gods, maybe Horus can persuade them." With that Zeus sent out a lightning bolt that would find the Egyptians and let them know who was calling. Moments after the forms of Horus and Isis appeared before the Greek gods.

"Well Zeus, I'm surprised to hear from you after all this time. Now that were here, what do you want" said Horus.

"Yes, why are we here," questioned Isis, taking in the hate, guilt, and sadness in the Greeks faces.

"Your magicians from the ruddy House of Life, kidnapped five of our demigod children and demand that we shut you, and all of the rest of the Egyptian gods away back in the Duat permanently," said Zeus.

Horus and Isis stood there stunned, but only for a moment.

"WHAT, that goes against the ancient laws!" Horus whirled around looking at every god, anger present in his gold and silver eyes. "I know now why you called for us, the whole reason you brought us here was to force us back. Well I got news for you toga freaks, you can't, and if we go back the end of the world will happen through chaos, the equivalent to Kronos from our world. Aphophis is rising again, he will be soon strong enough to escape the prison that has been his home for thousands of years." stated Horus.

Zeus eyes grew grave. "I see, can you convince these magicians to release our children. The House of Life used to listen to the gods, will they know?"

Horus hung his head. "No, they still blame us for the rise of the Roman Empire. They will not listen, thanks to you. Again thank-you for allowing Egypt to fall under your hands! You and your stupid Roman counterpart."

"I guess that settles it, we know don't have a choice in the matter. We can't send any of our other children to help. Desjardins forced it so we had to swear not to send any of our heroes or all of the captured will be killed," said Poseidon looking very regretful. All of the gods tensed, like they were about to leap on the Egyptians. Isis stepped in front of Horus throwing up her hands, palms forward.

"Wait! We may have a solution that will save us all. There are two magicians that follow the old ways, the path of the gods. When we first escaped from our prison last year they were our hosts. They have proven themselves that they are able to sacrifice anything for the greater good. Their names are Carter and Sadie Kane. Their father is the host of Osiris , if you are willing we can send them to Camp Half-Blood for a quest from your oracle'" said Isis.

The gods looked at each other relaxing slightly, the parents of the five looked hopefully at Zeus, who sat debating, he sighed. "Send these Kane's to camp, but if they fail before the end of next week we have no choice but to send you back."

"Then let us hope that Sadie and Carter do not fail" said Horus.

Twenty-First Nome

Sadie and Carter were relaxing at the mansion when Horus and Isis appeared right in front of them.

"Bloody hell mates you scared the piss out of me" yelled Sadie once she recovered from falling off the couch. Carter had managed to flip the lazy boy over when he rocketed back, he was surprised to see the two gods as was Sadie. It was one of the few times they had seen the gods since the Red Pyramid. Bast appeared next to the kids staring at the gods with her cat like eyes as they ever so slightly narrowed.

Carter, Sadie, Bast, we need to talk" said Horus walking towards the dining room table. The rest followed silently, the tension in the air could be cut with a butter knife. "We don't have a lot of time, Bast will fill you in. A man will come to the mansion and you need to go with him. If you don't, we are all doomed. I'm sorry we can't explain more, but we cannot stay any longer without being inside you, are hosts." With that Horus and Isis disappeared, both children looked at Bast who had a disturbed look on her face.

"Bast?" asked Carter. Bast sighed and began to explain.

"So your saying that we have to save these demigods, or you'll be gone forever," said Sadie.

"I'm afraid so Sadie. Both of you have to go to Camp Half-Blood to receive a quest from there oracle," said Bast, "but don't worry, I'll be with you, but we have to leave now, our ride is here." Even as she said it there was a honk from outside. They went downstairs into the waiting white van. The driver was unlike any they had seen before, he had like a million eyes all over his body.

"Hey mate, how many eyes you got?" asked Sadie. He turned about half his eyes at her and didn't say anything.

"Sadie, don't be rude," said Carter, "sorry about her" he told the million eye dude. The man just nodded and turned most of his eyes back onto the road.

It took about two hours, but they finally made it there. The man led them up a tall hill where a large pine tree stood, a dragon sitting under it. Beyond it the Kanes saw cabins and a large house next to the woods. A lake stood off to the side with a cliff with lava underneath. Running around the camp was teenagers in orange shirts.

"So this is Camp Half-Blood," said Carter taking the whole sight in. He turned to the driver, "so we have to consult an oracle and then what?"

"Well first you have to receive a quest before any action is taken," said a centaur who walked up to greet them.

"Wow, you're a bloody centaur" said Sadie, Carter elbowed her in the side. The centaur looked at her and then smiled showing that he wasn't offended, Sadie smirked at Carter elbowing him back.

"Yes I am a centaur, my name is Chiron a teacher of sorts here, please follow me." He began leading them down the hill. The driver turned in another direction leaving the trio alone with the centaur. "I must ask you not to mention who you are and why you are here. The gods thought it best if we kept the word down about the others, they don't want everybody to worry" said Chiron. The Kanes nodded as they began to get closer the edge of the cabin area. They received a lot of stares and a blonde girl with startling gray eyes, especially glared at them. Chiron noticed and just said "Annabeth not now". The girl named Annabeth just turned her stare to Chiron before turning and marching away. For a second Sadie was certain she saw a tear leaving her eye. Carter was just beginning to wonder where this oracle was, when they entered the forest going up to a cave with a purple curtain drawn across it.

"Rachel, are you there?" asked Chiron. The curtains shifted and a girl appeared from it.

"Chiron, are these the three who you wanted me to see?" asked Rachel. Chiron had just nodded when Rachel eyes turned green, and began to speak in a voice that wasn't her.

Three of pharaoh and god.

Search for friends in the land of sand.

The hand of the king god will decides there faint.

To survive or fail, all depends on trust.

Rachel's eyes return to normal, and she took a big breath, and motioned them into the cave. Both Kanes were surprised at the interior of the cave, it looked like any other bedroom/living room. She motioned for everyone to take a seat. "You can discuss the meaning in here."

"Well that seemed clear in meaning, usually their not that clear. It also strange that it didn't rhyme, prophecy's always rhyme, this must be because your Egyptian" said Chiron. "Three of pharaohs and gods, mean Carter, Sadie and Bast. You go to find the lost demigods, in Egypt, the land of sand. The king god hand must mean Carter since he was the host of Horus, the king god for Egypt. The last line means you must trust each other if you wish to succeed" said Chiron. Chiron was very uneasy, when he finished explaining, he had a feeling that the prophecy had meaning that he didn't see. It was just too easy, but he didn't mention this to the Kanes. "When can you be ready to leave," was all he asked.

"Today, Chiron, if you can provide us with some supplies," said Bast.

"I will see that it is done."

While Chiron and Bast were going over the supply list, a pair of footsteps appeared, walking away from the cave but no one was there to fill them.


	5. Chapter 5

With the gods gathering up their children, the Hunters of Artemis had also been sent to Camp Half-Blood for their safety. Much to the dislike of Thaila who could protect herself. But it was nice to see some of her friends, although not all of them. Everyone at camp knew what had happened even though it was not supposed to be talked about. Artemis had told her hunters about everything that had happened, much to the dislike of the other Gods. Percy fatal flaw had struck again; he sacrificed himself to save his mother.

She tried not to think of yesterday when Artemis had returned from Mt. Olympus and told them.

Thaila had been gathering wood for the fire, they had stopped in Canada, hunting caribou. Lady Artemis had rushed to Mt. Olympus earlier in the afternoon when Hermes had appeared demanding that she go. Thaila was not worried immediately, these things happened often after the battle last year. Joining the Hunt was the best decision she had made. She felt complete, she never felt that at Camp Half-Blood. Lady Artemis was one of the better goddess, she treated all the girls the same. It had surprised Thaila when Lady Artemis had named her second in command after Zoe fell. That was the only time Thaila saw Lady Artemis sad, truly sad. That was until she arrived at dinner time. All the Hunters knew immediately that something was wrong; Artemis appeared before them a woman, not her usual teenage form. The Hunters made room around the fire for her to sit down. Thaila moved to her Lady's side.

"Lady Artemis, what wrong. Did the meeting at Mt. Olympus go wrong?" asked one of the girls.

Lady Artemis sighed. "I have bad news my Hunters, such that the other Gods wish that I would keep silent about. Percy Jackson, Travis and Conner Stroll, Clarisse, and Malcolm have all been captured by an organization called the House of Life."

Thaila felt numb, Percy was captured along with four others. A girl spoke up, "What is the House of Life?"

Again Artemis sighed. "The gods keep many secrets, few know this, back in ancient times when Rome had yet to rise, the Egyptians were the greatest of all the kingdoms. There were magicians that studied the gods and called themselves the House of Life. When Egypt began to fall, the House blamed their gods and banished them into a place called the Duat, the worst of prisons. Recently a group of magicians have begun to study the old ways after some of the Gods escaped this prison. The House of Life demands that we serve them and force the Egyptians back into the Duat or the children they took will die and any others they get their hands on." Artemis stood up then eyes flashing. "I must go back to Mt. Olympus, Thaila, you will take the girl to Camp Half-Blood until my return."

Thaila bowed her head, "Yes my Lady." Artemis eyes softened and she motion Thaila to enter her tent. Thaila followed quickly, Artemis sat in a chair that she had, Thaila sat on the floor in front of her.

"Thaila, I know that Percy and you are friends, I know that you want to go after him, I can sense it. The call of the Hunt in is your blood. I must warn you not to, the Gods have promised that they will not send any of there heroes."

Thaila was shocked at such a promise. "But, my Lady, who is going to help save them?"

"The magicians that have went back to the ways of the Gods. They are going to Camp Half-Blood to receive a quest."

She had did what Artemis had asked of her, she had taken all of the Hunter to Camp. She now was sitting by the lake, thinking of the time Percy had made her mad, by plunging her into the water. She wasn't too surprised when Annabeth appeared suddenly. It did surprise her that she had Nico with her. She had expected Annabeth to come to her eventually.

"Thaila there you are. I've got a way to help Percy; a prophecy has been given to the Egyptian kids. The prophecy seems to be straight forward but I see a lope hole."

With that Annabeth told the other two the prophecy. "It says three of pharaoh and god, but it doesn't have to mean that cat god, those kids are descendants of pharaohs, were descendants of gods so that line could apply to us, and the King Gods hand, Thaila that's you, you're the king of gods daughter. Can't you see it" said Annabeth.

Thaila could see it, but Artemis had told her not to go. But if she didn't Annabeth and Nico would go without her.

"Annabeth even if this is what it means how are we going to follow them when they leave. We don't even know if we can follow them. What if they have some weird Egyptian way of traveling like camels or a magic carpet."

"Magic carpets are Arabian" put in Nico.

"Whatever, even if we could sneak after them how will I come? You have your hat to turn you invisible and Nico can use the shadows, how would I stowaway with them without being seen? I am stealthy but not that stealthy" questioned Thaila.

Annabeth smirked, "Just let me take care of that."

First Nome

"How are the half-blood brats, Farid?" questioned Desjardins looking through the window of his personal quarters, he could see the entire First Nome from there, including the prison. "I hope their enjoying our hospitality." Farid had just entered Desjardins room.

"They seem to despise it Desjardins, the Ares kid won't shut-up. She keeps threatening us, demanding that we face her instead of turning our backs like cowards, but she's under control. The Hermes and Athena kids aren't doin anything to rock the boat. The only thing I had to do was take the collar off the Poseidon kid or he would die, but he's too weak to do anything, " said Farid who came to stand behind the man.

Before Farid had time to react, Desjardins spun around and back-handed him, hitting him with enough force to knock him down. Desjardins roughly grabbed him by the front of his robes. "How dare you do something like that, the Poseidon brat is the most threat, I want that collar on him 24/7, put it back on now!" spat Desjardins shoving Farid into the ground.

"Yes Desjardin, as you wish" said Farid picking himself off the ground and walking away. Farid followed orders and went down to the holding cells, were the half-bloods were.

"Come on you yellar-belly cowards fight like men" yelled Clarisse rattling the chains that held her arms. They all flinched when Farid opened the door and came through. "So, have you came to face me" spat Clarisse.

Farid ignored her and went towards Percy, who had just found the strength to sit up for the first time in days. "I'm sorry kid but Desjardins says to put the collar back on all the time," said Farid who thought it wasn't right and didn't want to do it.

"No please don't" begged Percy weakly. The collar was like burning in the Stynx but ten times worse. Percy knew that if was forced to spend more time with it around his neck he would surely die.

"Hey man, that's not wise, he will die if you do that and nothing will stop Poseidon from killing all of you. If we all die you won't live to see tomorrow, there will be no stopping our parents" said Malcolm.

"You don't think I know that boy, but I don't make the rules and I don't want to do this" said Farid. His hand went towards his face, where the demigods could see the red outline of a hand across his check. "But I don't have any choice."

With that he put the collar on, but Percy didn't feel pain, he looked up into Farid's eyes who winked. "He said that I had to put it on all the time, but he didn't say it had to be working," whispered Farid to them all. The demigods were to shocked to even say anything. Percy managed a small smile for the man. Farid returned the small smile and left the five for the rest of the day.

"So how do you think well get out of this one," asked Connor.

"Well brother we can just charm them with our personalities or we can try to pick pocket the keys," said Travis grinning. It was a known fact that the clay people that came and watched them never carried keys, the used glowing hieroglyphics to enter and close the cells.

"Will you guys stop saying stupid stuff like that," snarled Clarisse, who wanted to pound them for all the stupid things they said.

"Stop arguing," said Percy, softly, everyone stopped at that, they all felt sorry for him even Clarisse. They had seen what the collar had done to him.

"Don't worry," said Percy his head dropping, he hadn't been able to sleep from the pain "Someone will get a quest and come help us." Percy knew that it was a lie, he had heard Desjardin warn the gods not to send any demigods or they would all die. He knew that it would be better to let his friends have a false hope then to give up it. With these thoughts heavy in his mind Percy fell asleep.

"Percy?" asked Travis.

'Shush, let him sleep," said Malcolm, "I don't think anyone can come, these magicians aren't stupid they probably have the gods hands tied, or we would have been out of here by now."

"How long have we been done here anyway?" said Clarisse. They couldn't really tell, the sun didn't shine in the magician's underground home.

"I think it's been about two days," said Malcolm.

"Hopefully we'll get rescued soon," said Connor. They all nodded, they knew what was going to happen if they didn't.

Farid walked slowly back to his room, he felt terrible. He could see Percy's pained filled eyes every time he closed his. At first kidnapping the demigods seemed to be a good idea. He never thought that Desjardin would become consumed by it, willing to let a child suffer just to get the results that he wanted. Was having the old Gods free worth that much. How many children was Desjardin willing to sacrifice until his goal was reached? More important if this continued how would Farid live with himself?


	6. Chapter 6

After Nico had left Thaila and Annabeth he went to the new children of Hades cabin. He had been shocked when his dad appeared to him and ordered him to go to Camp Half-Blood yesterday.

Flashback

Nico had left the underworld a week ago, with his step-mother still gone Hades was always in a bad mood. He had to get away for a little bit, he was currently in Missouri looking at the biggest pecan statue. He had meant to go to St. Louis, but had undershot and landed in this town cemetery, which overlooked the local high school.

"How ironic, the cemetery is close enough to the school, that when someone dies of boredom, they can just bury them" he said aloud. He was too tired to shadow again so he had decided to explore the town. It was a little town, with lots of old buildings. That's how he discovered the statue, it was a little ways out of town, but it was neat to look at. He probably should have known something was going to happen when the world around him got colder, but he paid it no mind. At least until the ground next to him ripped open. Nico fell back startled, as his father appeared next to him.

"Nico, thank Primus, your alright."

Nico sat there in shock as his dad said those words, he was actually worried.

"I am, is something the matter Dad?"

Hades eyes began to glow with black flames. "Yes, you need to get to Camp Half-Blood immediately and stay there, Understood." There was no room left for argument.

"Yes, my Lord" said Nico bowing. He gathered what was left of his strength and prepared to shadow travel. He was about to leave, when a surge of power hit him, giving him back his strength, he opened his eyes to look at his father before he was gone.

When Nico had opened his eyes next he was in Camp- Half Blood, he was surprised at the amount of kids there, until he found Annabeth crying, did he understand why his dad was so worried.

That was yesterday, it was hard to imagine that Percy wasn't at Camp. He was one of the few people who talked to him. It didn't matter to Percy who his dad was, unlike most of the other campers. NO matter how bratty Nico had acted in the past Percy had been there to look after him, and even trusted him.

Nico rubbed his face deciding to go to bed, as he was climbing into one of the few beds in the cabin preparing to go to sleep when a thought hit him. "Who's Primus?"

Thaila was waiting in the Cabin of Zeus the next morning. Annabeth and Nico had decided to meet there, since it was very unlikely that anyone would find them there. She hoped that Zeus wouldn't be paying attention, for his statue dominated a wall. She hated that statue, the way that his eyes seemed to stare at you wherever you were in the cabin, except for the place where Thaila slept. She remembered back before she was a hunter, trying to contact her dad through the statue hoping he would answer, but he never would speak to her.

She was drawn from her memories when Annabeth and Nico walked in each carrying what looked like a golden pair of jeans and a hoody, complete with shoes.

"Annabeth, what in the world are those things," asked Thaila as Nico and Annabeth laid the clothing on to one of the beds.

"There clothing, duh" said Nico, which earned him a jab with Annabeth's elbow.

"These cloths allow the wearer to be a chameleon, letting the wearer to blend in with there surroundings. I found the plans in Delouses laptop a couple of weeks ago. Last night I gave the plans to the Hephaestus cabin and they had it done in three hours, and I added the necessary devices to make it change with the help of my siblings" said Annabeth.

"Wait, did you tell the Hephaestus cabin and your siblings about our plans!" demanded Nico.

"No, they had already guessed I would save Percy, and my brother Malcolm, they were just waiting for me to act, the Hephaestus even swore on the River Stynx not to tell Chiron. " said Annabeth.

"Well that just leaves one question, do the golden clothes work?" said Thaila.

"Well lightning girl try them on and find out, plus there central bronze, not gold" said Nico as he strolled out of the cabin to give her privacy.

Thaila glared at his back and sent a tiny shock of lightning at him, which he deflected with his sword and continued to laugh. Thaila then proceeded to change into the outfit, which weighed a ton. After she put it on she glanced down and saw that she was still visible. "So I guess they don't work," she commented

"Just wait I haven't activated them, if they were activated, it would have appeared to you that Nico and I brought nothing in our hands" said Annabeth like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Thaila got a little annoyed by that but let it go. Annabeth reached and touched a button on the inside of the hood. Thaila immediately felt a little warmth and when she looked down she saw nothing. Thaila for the first time believed that they could do this. The girls called Nico back in.

"When do the Egyptians leave" asked Nico as he reentered the cabin again.

"Well there supposed to leave in an hour, but they might leave before hand, so we might want to start following them now." said Annabeth, the others nodded.

With that the three left the cabin, all of them invisible, began to look for Carter, Sadie, and Bast.

The former where at the river discussing a plan about how to release the demigods.

"Bast do you have an idea where the prison is?" asked Carter.

"No but I think its time you try to scry spell," said Bast. Bast bought out two bowls and showed them the hieroglyphics that allowed them to see the First Nome in the water. Sadie was having an easier time at it then Carter, since she was the younger of the two she saw more.

"Look, they have a number of people outside that one building that's left of house of memories" said Sadie.

"Sadie we can't see that in our bowls you need to describe it," said Carter.

"It brown, two stories high with a red flag out the front, and there is ten men just standing outside the door," said Sadie.

"It is most likely that they are there, I think we should leave now instead of waiting another hour. Who knows what they are doing to those demigods," said Bast.

"Bast, why are you so eager to help, I thought Egyptian gods hated the Roman gods, and the Greek gods are the same people," said Carter.

"I wasn't around in the time of the Roman conquest I was already sealed away, so I have no hate towards them, but I feel for the children. Magicians can do terrible things, and I know; no one deserves to go through that. Also the terms of Desjardin also apply to me; I would be shut up with the rest of them" said Bast, "So Carter please summon the boat."

By this time the three demigods had reached the river, and waited.

Carter summoned the boat, and while Carter, Sadie, and Bast were gathering there supplies to cast off the demigods jumped aboard. Bast felt the impact of the landing but didn't see anything, but was still pretty suspicion something was up. Her instincts were warning her, and she thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye. But when she looked, there was nothing. She glared around, he cat senses tingling.

Thaila barley let out her breath, when she hand landed, the cloths short-circuited from the impact and she had been visible for a second. They began to work again just as the Cat Goddess snapped her head around to look at where she was.

When the boat began to move through the rivers of the world, Nico about shouted in alarm, Thaila and Annabeth were amazed by it. Annabeth just looked as she saw images of the Empire State building, a jungle, and the sands of Egypt. All to soon it came to an end when they came into the river that ran through the First Nome, they docked the boat in a secluded corner.

"Your getting better at that Carter," said Sadie as threw the anchor onto the land. Bast quickly got off, glaring at the water, muttering her thanks to Ra for getting her off the floating tub.

"Thanks Sadie" said Carter, jumping off the boat.

Carter, Sadie, and Bast were about to set off when they got a surprise when the heard a voice say "Wait."

They instantly turned around, Carter had his sword out, and Bast had all of her knives out in a flash, ready to pounce on the threat. They were surprised when they saw Nico, Thaila, and Annabeth.

"What in bloody hell are you doing here," yelled Sadie.

"Were here to fulfill the prophecy, three of pharaoh and god, you three are the pharaoh part, and we are the three of god" said Thaila.

Carter didn't know what to think of Thaila as she stripped out of the golden cloths to reveal normal cloths, her fashion reminding him of Sadie. With a death to Barbie t-shirt, dark jeans, and combat boot, and to top it off a silver circulate on her head. He was actually worried Sadie would get ideas.

"Chiron said that your Gods couldn't send heroes to help," pointed out Carter. Thaila huffed at that, opening her mouth to say something but Annabeth cut her off

"The Gods didn't send us, were here to get our friends, and more important in my case my brother and my boyfriend" said Annabeth, "And there is no use trying to send us away, we will not leave here without them."

Sadie and Carter looked at each other, they had a point, they would waste more time if they took them back, plus they wouldn't go peacefully. If they tried force, the result might make all the Magician in the First Nome to come and investigate.

"Well children if we have to work together we must trust each other or were doomed to fail, as the prophecy said," Bast commented.

Everyone nodded, although Thaila sent a few glares at Carter. They all knew that they would have to work together to make this work. Bast nodded at the five in front of her and motioned them to come along as she lead them into the heart of enemy territory.


	7. Chapter 7

Bast left the five teenagers so she could scout ahead in her cat form, they all stood there awkwardly. Sadie and Carter had moved away putting space between themselves and the demigods. Carter couldn't help but glance at the other teens every so often, he was curious about these teenagers that were half man and half god, but stopped when he caught the eye of the girl Thaila more than once. He stared determinedly at the direction that Bast had slunk off to. Even though he had stopped looking at her, Thaila kept shooting death glares at Carter. Sadie's blood began to boil as she saw the glares aimed at her brother.

"Why do you keep glaring at my brother, you got a problem Trai" snapped Sadie purposely mistaking Thaila's name to bug her and worked. Thaila's nostrils flared and a smell of brunt ozone reached everyone's nostrils. The ends of her hair snapped like she was in the middle of a storm.

"It's Thaila, and I do have a problem. Iam a Hunter, we follow the Goddess of Artemis. Like her I have sworn to forsake all men, and your brother was staring at me, I just want to make sure he doesn't get any ideas in his little boy mind."

Sadie couldn't believe that this twit was insulting her brother, she had seen Carter looking at her, but he looked the same as if he was studying an ancient wall with writing on it. He hadn't looked at her like how he did with Zia. "Who says my brother would do anything with you, your no prize, in fact I would more likely call you a-"

"Sadie stop" said Carter quietly, putting a hand on his sister's shoulder holding her back as she tried to take a few steps towards Thaila, her hands balling into fist.

"But"

"No, I'm used to it by now; Dad said it would happen when I got older, just like he said people would distrust me because of the color of my skin. I do wish that some people would get to know me before they judge my moral character" he stared at Thaila as he said this; she just glared back, not looking the least bit ashamed, though Annabeth and Nico looked uncomfortable. Thaila was about to open her mouth to say a witty reply when Annabeth stopped her.

"Guys, we need to stop fighting, remember what the Prophecy said that we will fail if we don't work together and that is certain" Annabeth said as she stepped between both parties with her hands raised.

While Thaila and Sadie glared at each other, the others nodded in agreement, jumping when Bast run in the mist of them and changed into her human shape. She bared her teeth in a grin.

"I'm so glad that you have all decided to work together, we'll need it. There is a meeting in the Hall of Memories, everyone is attending, so there are only a few guards on duty." She turned to Sadie "I found the building you described, its door is guarded by four men, and two walk the perimeter. This is to our advantage they don't except us to come onto their territory, so we have the element of surprise."

Annabeth began to pace thinking aloud, "It would be easy for Nico, Thaila and I to sneak up and disarm the four guards at the door, and even Bast can sneak up on one of the guys running the perimeter, but how do we get the other one before he can call out an alarm?"

"Well, why don't you leave him to Sadie and me, we might not be able to turn invisible, but we can sneak up on him."

Annabeth nodded, it would be doable.

They waited for Thaila to get her cloths before the plan was put into action. Sadie and Carter just watched as the three demigods became invisible, Bast turned back into a cat was went walking off after them. Sadie and Carter had to make do by dodging from cover to cover, taking time to look before they ran, it was slow going, but they finally made it to the building where Percy was held.

Sadie and Carter watched as three of the front guards fell all at the same time, the fourth was turning around to see what was wrong when he too crumpled. Bast chose that moment to jump on one of the patrols, changing back to human when she landed. Carter and Sadie bust out of cover and ran to the other guard who hadn't noticed his companions were indisposed. They cast a sleeping spell before he knew someone was behind him. Carter turned to the building where the three demigods became visible again.

"Come on" ordered Annabeth waving for the other three to join them.

"Who in the bloody hell, died and made her queen of the world" muttered Sadie as she marched towards the door. She hated being bossed around, especially by Yanks. Carter just coughed to hide the chuckle that escaped him. Sadie just glared at him twirling a piece of blue hair, as they all gathered at the doorway.

"Is everyone ready?" asked Bast, all humor gone from her face. The five nodded and with Annabeth leading the way all of them cautiously entered the building.

-o~0~o-

What the rescue committee didn't know that there was a person with the captured demigods. Farid had been ordered to stay with them during the meeting. Which he had been more than relieved to do so, he couldn't stomach being around Desjardins without wanting to kill the man.

He looked down at the boy he had been working on for the past few hours. He made sure that the collar was around Percy's neck at all times, but he never turned it back on since he turned it off a few days ago, and yet Percy's health kept deteriorating, getting worse as each hour passed.

Today he had a fever, yesterday he had been able to keep food or water again. Farid had stayed with him the whole night. Today he was relieved that he was able to get some food and water down Percy and it stayed down. His immune system was failing, that was all Farid knew, his body couldn't fight the infection. Farid sighed, casting a ice spell onto the compresses to make them cold again as he reapplied them on Percy's head and chest. The medication he had managed to get down his throat to try to reduce the fever, did nothing, in fact it seemed to have made him worse. His fever was now so high that he had begun to hallucinate, calling out people's names and battle defense plans.

The other demigods were beyond worried, each one knowing that Percy needed Nectar and Ambrose, it was the only thing that could save him now, and what little they carried on them had been destroyed by Desjardins when they were captured and had burned it before his eyes. Farid knew that if the fever didn't go down soon, Percy would have permanent brain damage; he turned to the other demigods.

"Is there anything you know that can help him? I don't know what else to do"

"He needs Nectar and Ambrose Farid, that's the only thing that will work, and Desjardins destroyed our emergency portions. He needs to get back to Camp Half-Blood" answered Malcolm.

Farid looked at the demigods and then at Percy, a decision had to be made. He took the keys from his belt, and walked to Malcolm. "The meeting that going on should last for another hour, follow the main street and it will lead you to the surface" he said as he unlocked the manacles, off of each of them. They looked at him in wonder not believing it.

"You are letting us go" asked Conner suspiciously.

"Yes, I cannot allow Desjardins to kill an innocent kid just because he thinks it's necessary for the greater good. None of this should have happened" said Farid quietly as he bent down beside Percy to undo the collar. When the door to the cell burst open, Farid snapped his head to look and found himself looking down the end of a knife with a pissed off blonde girl glaring at him. He slowly raised his hands, showong that he was unarmed. He didn't have a clue who this girl was until he glimpsed Sadie, Carter, and Bast behind her, he then knew that he was looking at a rescue party.

"Do exactly what I say and I will not kill you," said the blonde in a deadly voice, "I want you to release all of the prisoner now."

The sound of a person clearing his throat drew everyone's attention to the side. The rescue party was surprised to see the captured demigods. Malcolm stepped forward. "Annabeth, chill a little, this dude is on our side. He's the only one that has kept Percy alive so far and he was helping us escape." Conner, Travis, and Clarisse all seconded what Malcolm had just said. Everyone's eyes looked down at Farid who still was kneeling with his hands up. Thaila and Nico had dragged Percy away and were trying to get the Collar off.

Farid looked at the blonde deciding to speak. "I mean you and your friends no harm, for although I am a member of the House of Life, I don't agree with the things Desjardins is doing. I only kidnapped Percy and the others because I was ordered to; I was told no harm would come to anyone. That it would be a safest way to assure that the Gods would be put away for good, a way that no blood would be spilled." He pointed to Percy, "I would have never did what I did if I knew what the consequences would be."

Annabeth slowly lowered her knife, suspicion still in her eyes. Farid slowly got off the ground, and looked at where Nico and Thaila were trying to cut off the collar and weren't succeeding. "The Collar can't be cut off; only the one who put it on can take it off."

Carter frowned, "Who put it on?"

"I did, if you will let me I will take it off."

Annabeth nodded, Thaila and Nico stepped back from Percy, but Nico brought out his black sword so that Farid wouldn't get any ideas. Farid paid them no attention as he cast the spell that unlocked the Collar. He took the Collar and backed away from the boy, under Bast walked up next to him and recognized what the Collar was. Her hair stood on end, disturbed at the color the Collar was, it was a bad omen. Farid carefully said a spell that destroyed the Collar, leaving only a pile of ash on his hands.

Annabeth watched worriedly as Thaila rummaged in her pack and brought out Ambrose and Nectar and coaxed some down his throat.

"What is exactly wrong with Percy" demanded Nico as he watched Thaila.

"The Collar, it was a killing him. It was trying everything in my power to save him. If you want I will carry him for you" said Farid.

This shocked the entire group, Carter was the first one to find his voice. "You don't have to come with us, Farid, you have done enough for us," said Carter.

"No, I must leave; Desjardins will know it was me who let them go. I'm the only one who had the keys to the manacles, and the Collar. He expects me to die before I even think of letting them go, its' the ultimate betrayal in his eyes, I would be made an example of."

The group took a moment to vote, the captured demigods all voted for him to come along and the others didn't argue. With that decided they left the cells, Bast leading followed by Sadie, Clarisse, Malcolm, Travis, Connor, Nico, and Farid carrying Percy, with Carter and Thaila bringing up the rear.

They worked their way through the winding tunnels dodging. Farid was able to steer the group past protective spells that would have been triggered by the captured demigods. All seemed to be going well, until they passed a statue of King Tut. A protective spell that Farid didn't know was there was triggered. This particular spell was one Desjardins had put, and he was the only one who knew about it. He had put a spell on Percy, that if he crossed this particular spot it would set off a big booby trap. Unknowingly they had crossed this point, the floor started rumbling.

"Run" yelled Farid, recognized a spell at work. The group ran; dodging bit of ceiling that started to rain down on them. They all almost made it across the room, all except Thaila and Carter.

Thaila and Carter were running hard, when an ominous groan had them looking up. A giant piece of ceiling was dropping towards them. Thaila pushed Carter out of the way, while flinging herself to the other side. Where the piece dropped a crack split the ground, Carter scrambled away in time as the floor gave away. He looked towards Thaila and watched as the floor dropped from under her.

"Thaila" he yelled, climbing to his feet he ran to where she had been. He looked down and saw Thaila hanging by her fingertips. As he watched her fingers slid, he threw himself over the edge, wrapping his legs around column; he grabbed her wrists before she could even scream. Thaila looked up and was surprised to see Carter, who had two-thirds of his body in the hole.

"Don't worry, I've got you" he yelled over the din. Thaila gave a relieved smile, as he began to haul her up. As she reached the top, Carter looked back into the hole and realized that the floor was moving. He squinted and recognized what was down there; it was full of Egyptian Asps, very poisonous snakes. Thaila lay behind Carter trying to control her breathing. She looked at Carter who was still looking down in the pit. She pulled herself and looked down into the pit, and shivered at what she saw. Thaila looked at Carter and did the only thing she could. She threw her arms around him.

"Thank-you Carter, you saved my life" she whispered. Thaila would never know how Carter managed to react so fast, and neither did Carter. When Thaila and Carter made it to where the others had gathered; they discovered that the room had not been the only thing booby trapped. The passages that lead to the outside had turned into a maze.

"Well at least Desjardins has a sense of humor, he has made a labyrinth in your honor" commented Farid, who was looking quite worried, he hoisted Percy higher in his arms, he had not opened his eyes at all, not even after the Nectar and Ambrose. "This will give Desjardins enough time to plan what to do with us when we reach the surface."

They all realized at once that the bobby trap would have alerted Desjardins. Bast hissed in frustration and sliced at the walls with her blades. All but the demigods jumped at the shrill sound of the knives dragging across the stone wall. Everyone waited until Bast was done throwing a hissy fit before anyone dared to say anything.

"We'll worry about that when the time comes" said Annabeth, worry all too clear in her voice.

They walked into the maze, all agreeing on what which way to go till they got to a fork in the road. Both Thaila and Carter wanted to go down different passages.

"Well I'm glad that this line of the prophecy had to be right now, which king gods hand do we go with" demanded Sadie, "Which bloody king is right? Zeus or Horus?"

"Well Sadie, I'll be glad to tell you that." said Anubis, appearing in front of him in his human form, just like the night on the balcony. Many of the demigods looked from him to Nico and were shocked at the resemblance.

"But gods cannot interfere with quests" said Connor staring at the death god.

"Greek gods can't, where Egyptian," smirked Anubis, "We can do a lot of things the Greek Gods can't." He turned to Carter and Sadie. "Your father sent me to tell you."

Nico interrupted him before he could finish. "Wait a minute, how can Mr. Kane decided which path, he's not a god. If he was Sadie and Carter would be demigods," demanded Nico. Anubis looked up and down at the young demigod who dared to interrupt him, before he continued.

"That would be correct young son of Hates if Julius started off as a God. But he was a man when had Carter and Sadie. Since the events of last year, he is now the host of Osiris, who is King of the Egyptian Underworld. The prophecy never said which king god, so I quote,' By the King God's hand will decide your fate.' Since he is the king of the underworld and I am his right hand in business matters. In accordance with the prophecy, we say if you go to the right, you will die, the left is the way out."

"Thank-you Anubis, I told you Carter it was the left," smirked Thaila as she inclined her head at the God. Anubis just smiled and disappeared without another word.

The corridors of began to straighten out, there were no forks in the roads, no branching off. Everyone began to feel dread, knowing what would await them at the end of the tunnel. Farid hung back in the shadows so not to be seen immediately by Desjardins.

"Hello children I've been waiting for you" exclaimed Desjardins clapping his hands in mock glee, as he ran his eyes over the group. "And what a surprise Carter and Sadie Kane along with their pet God," he grinned evilly at them, as he waved at twenty magicians to surround the group.


	8. Chapter 8

"Well I can see that the gods have refused my terms, I should have known they would send someone, even if that is the Kanes and three of their heroes." said Desjardin noticing the three new demigods. "But don't worry you'll be the ones to feel the consequences." His eyes strayed from the three and saw who was lurking in the doorway, and his jaw tightened and eyes flashed. "Farid, you let them go! Why boy?"

Farid stepped into the light, Percy still in his arms. "Desjardins, what you're doing is wrong. Look at this boy," he held out his arms for Desjardins to see how limply Percy lay in them. "The price for what you want to achieve is too much. You are willingly to sacrifice these children's lives for your own selfish goal. I would rather take my chances with the Gods then with you. Whether they be Egyptian or Greek, I renounce the House of Life, and all my loyalties."

"So be it. Farid Iskban, has hereby become an enemy of the House of Life. His name shall be stripped out of the record, all mention of him destroyed. If he survives today any member of the House of Life are to kill on sight. So let it be written, so let it be done."

Farid turned from Desjardins and walked back into the ranks of demigods, ending up next to Carter, who was looking at him thoughtfully, before he began to whisper. "Farid, when we make it through this you are welcome to came back with Sadie, and I to Brooklyn House." Farid gazed at him in shock before he looked at Bast who bared her fangs in a smile, and Sadie gave him a small smile. Then he looked back at Carter.

"I am honored, and I accept your offer."

"Enough talk, House of Life re-take those prisoners. The traitor you can kill" yelled Desjardins, drawling out his staff from his Duat locker.

Thaila, Annabeth, and Nico looked at each other and all drew there weapons. The Kane's followed their example and they also drew there weapons.

Desjardins laughed with contempt as he stared at them. "I should have gotten rid of you Kane's a long time ago. You're going to end up just like your father. I should have killed him a long ago in his little adventure in the City of the Dead, instead of leaving it up to that curse!"

"You should have never had did this Desjardins, things will only come to ruin, these children have done nothing, but you broke the Holy Covenant that was set in place hundreds of years ago between the Greeks and the Egyptians. You do not deserve the title Chief Lector" snarled Bast

"I'm only doing this for the greater good, and don't patronize me, God, you are the whole reason this has happened. If you had stayed where you were placed, no of this would have come to pass. Give up now and I may be lenient with the children. I will kill them swiftly and painlessly" said Desjardins.

"To quote a son of Poseidon John Paul Jones 'I have not begun to fight'" yelled Travis.

Annabeth stepped forward "You promised the gods you wouldn't hurt their children, but here is Percy who is about dead and it is because of you and now you threaten us with death. We would rather fight then to willingly lie down like lambs to a slaughter."

Desjardins nodded. "So be it demigod brats." He pushed up the sleeves to his robe and began to whirl his staff around, muttering spells under his breath.

Farid knew what was going to happen to them as he watched the Chief Lector. He knew that Desjardins would attack them with fire, and he knew that there was only one way to escape. He turned to Sadie, "Sadie, the God of the Earth, Gabe. I have heard that he owes you a favor. Please ask him to open a way out of here. It's our only chance to escape. I know Desjardins and he's going to attack with fire."

Sadie had forgotten the promise that she was owed, she opened her mind and called out, "Gabe it is time to collect that favor you owe me, please mate, give us a way to get out of here!"

Nothing happened for a minute, and Sadie began to doubt. Farid handed Percy to Bast, and he pulled out his own staff.

The ground began to rumble, making everyone stagger. A whirlpool of dirt opened next to them.

"Thank-you Gabe" shouted Sadie out loud.

Desjardins eyes opened wide, and he understood. "Attack, before they escape!" Farid watched as Desjardin raised his arms, the staff clenched in both hands.

"NO" called Farid as Desjardin brought the staff down. Where the staff meet the ground, a giant fireball appeared before Desjardin. He pointed his hands at the group and the fireball began to flew towards them.

Farid leaped out in front of the group. Casting a protective spell that acted as a shield, the fireball hitting it and bouncing off harmlessly.

"Do you think you can stop me Farid?" Desjardins laughed before he continued. "You can't keep it up forever, you could never maintain large spells for long."

Farid looked at the group behind him. "He's right, I can't keep this up forever, jump into the whirlpool. Now!" Everyone did as Farid said, Annabeth went first quickly followed by everyone. Farid watched as one by one they disappeared until only Thaila and Carter were left.

"Come on Farid, we must hurry," yelled Thaila, for the whirlpool was shrinking rapidly already half its size.

"Go save yourselves, forget about me," yelled Farid, the fireballs continued to pound on his shield that was beginning to crumple. Carter and Thaila shook their heads, stubborn as a pair of mules. Farid looked at them and then at the whirlpool, and then back at them. He made his decision, he cut off the energy that powered his spell. The shield disappeared, he turned to Thaila and Carter and pushed them into the whirlpool just in time as it closed entirely. He heard the sound of another fire ball heading towards him. Farid tried to get the shield back in place, but he was to late a giant ball of fire smashed into him knocking him over top where the whirlpool was. For a moment he saw the faces of Thaila and Carter looking at him before his heart gave one last labored thump.

It is true that Desjardins did kill Farid.

Farid felt himself flying down into the underworld in his Ba form. He flew he reached the Hall of Judgment. He saw the scale where the feather of truth lay, Anubis and Osiris were standing next to the scale. He landed before them, where he knelt the best he could in his Ba form.

He felt a hand on his shoulder, he looked up into the smiling face of Osiris. "Rise Farid Iskban. Welcome to the Hall of Judgment. But do not be afraid, your time is not up"

Farid was confused as he stood up. "My Lord, what do you mean that my time is not up?"

"Farid, you are not completely dead yet. You still have a choice, you can be judged and follow us through the doors to the Underworld, or go back to the land of the living," explained Anubis "But you must decide now, for your time to choose is shorting. Though we do not know what awaits you if you return."

Farid walked a few steps away to think, he knew what lay above, and how much better it would be to stay here and forget what happened. But he had wrongs to right, with Percy and others. He turned back to the two gods and said "I need to go back to the living; I need to right my wrongs before I can rest in peace."

Osiris smiled "Wise choice, and thank-you for getting my children out of the First Nome, I will eternally be grateful." Farid nodded, Anubis and Osiris touched him on the shoulder and he felt his Ba begin to fade. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to fade.

With that Farid went back to the world of the living and to a world of pain.

Sadie was the first one to pop out of the hole, though she hadn't been the first one in. The first thing she saw as she glanced around was Gabe lounging along a river. "Thank-you Gabe for helping us,"

"Yes'', said Bast as she popped out of the hole carrying Percy, the rest coming behind her. "Thank-you Lord Gabe, you saved us."

"You are welcome Sadie, Bast. My it has been awhile since I have helped demigods." As he inspected the group before him, they were eyeing him warily. Nico looked at the god and then at Sadie.

"Why are all your God's different colors" he demanded. Annabeth leaned over and whacked him upside the head.

"Lord Gabe just saved us Nico, be respectful."

Nico just rubbed his head and bowed to Gabe. "My apologizes Lord Gabe, I'm sorry if I offended you. I am grateful for the rescue."

Gabe surprised everyone as he just threw his head back and laughed. "No need to apologize demigod. You would be surprised at how many demigods have asked that question."

The rest were all were saying thank-you when Thaila and Carter popped out of the whirlpool. A few tears were falling down her face, and Carter looked stunned. Behind them the whirlpool disappeared as if it had never been.

Nico was the first one to notice the absence as the others were demanding what had happened. "Carter where is Farid?"

Everyone quieted down as they all noticed that Farid wasn't there. Carter cleared his throat and looked at everyone around him. "He's dead; he stopped his spell to push me and Thaila into the whirlpool, when we refused to go without him. We didn't realize how fast the whirlpool was closing, or we wouldn't have wasted time arguing. It closed right after he pushed us in. We were sucked away for a few seconds and we saw a fireball hit him. He landed right on top of where the whirlpool was. He wasn't breathing."

The others just stood in silence, to stunned to speak. It was Gabe who spoke broke the silence. "It is the way of the world, children, what was once from the earth has come back. But don't be sad for long, you will see him again, just not for a while. It is just the way of the world; one creature dies to give life to others"

It was a small comfort to the group, they would honor Farid when they got back home. The demigods that had been imprisoned agreed to burn a shroud in his honor. Conner looked around at where they were and brought up the subject that was troubling him. "Lord Gabe, where are we?"

"We are by the Ohio River, it was the closest I could get to New York, now if you excuse me I have got to go" Before anyone could say anything he was gone.

"Well how do we get to New York?" asked Travis, "I don't see any cars, that we can 'borrow' and I ain't walking all the way back."

"Well Sadie and I can do the all rivers are one spell, it would take five minutes to get to New York," said Carter. It was agreed that that was the thing to do.

Of course the boat was very crowded and the spell made Percy's fever rise. Once they got to New York they caught a couple of cabs to the Empire State building, and for once the doorman didn't raise a fuss of omitting them into the elevator.

Although they got plenty of stares, eleven filthy people, the oldest one was caring another. Carter was amazed when the elevator dinged open, and he saw Olympus for the first time. But he didn't get to look very long as he was dragged through the city that looked like it was under construction. He gaped at the size of the throne room, where all of the gods were assembled, each sitting on their thrones. Poseidon jumped off of his throne, shrinking to the size of a normal man when he saw the state that Percy was in. He gently took him from Bast, cradling him in his arms.

Poseidon could feel the heat of the fever that consumed his son roll off of him in waves. He looked at Apollo, with worry in his eyes. Apollo appeared next to Poseidon and began checking Percy over. He was alarmed at the heat that poured off of him. Without a word to Poseidon he took Percy from his arms and left the room, leaving Poseidon with his arm still raised. He slowly lowered them, and returned to his throne.

Zeus looked at his brother before he addressed the group. "Egyptians, Carter and Sadie Kane, Goddess Bast. Thank-you for saving our children, we are in your debt. Thank-you Carter Kane for saving my daughter from dying, you will be always welcomed at Mount Olympus. Clarisse, Travis, Connor, and Malcolm and know you're parents want you to get checked by Apollo to make sure you are fine" Zeus turned his eyes to look at the three that had stowed away. "Annabeth, Nico, and Thaila, although you did help save the five, we swore not to send heroes on the River Styx and you broke that promise."

Thaila stepped forward and bowed her head."Father, you didn't send us, we snuck aboard on the Kane's boat. So you didn't break any oath, we left without your blessing" said Thaila.

She was rewarded with a tiny smile from Zeus and then he sent them Apollo. The Kane's were given a room and it was agreed that they would go back to the Twenty-Third Nome tomorrow. Annabeth after a brief once over by Apollo, stayed with Percy.

Apollo after looking at the other demigods went back to tending to Percy, Annabeth refused to leave his side. Poseidon came often in the next couple of hours, waiting for good news. But Apollo was having problems, he couldn't make Percy's fever come down. He tried every salve, and given him as much Nectar and Ambrose as he dared. He even had him in a bathtub with freezing water salt water. Hoping that the mixture of ice and salt water would help heal him. In the next three hours instead of going down, his fever rose three degrees. He wasn't even hallucinating anymore, he was in a coma.

"This fever is strange, it won't come down, I've tried everything, I have even consulted the wisdom god of the Egyptians, Thoth. There's nothing I can do, he said that the collar did this. Just taking the collar off didn't cure him, the spell leaked from the collar and entered his body. The spells are poisoning his blood, only the person who put the spells on the collar can purge them out of his body," said Apollo.

"But Farid is dead, Thaila and Carter saw it happen," said Annabeth tears forming in her eyes, Percy was going to die.

"No he isn't, Anubis and Osiris contacted me a little while ago." said Hades as he walked into the room. "Desjardins has him imprisoned in the First Nome."


	9. Chapter 9

Farid's Ba flew back into his body and he opened his eyes. He was laying in the sand, over where the whirl pool had been. Smoke rose from his cloths, the skin underneath was whole and unburned. He tried to raise himself up when something grasped his hair and raised his head, a weight pressed into his back. He tried to struggle until the cold edge of a knife pressed against his throat.

He watched as Desjardins walked up to him, flanked by many magicians. Farid refused to look away as he stared into Desjardins eyes.

"Where are your friends now, Farid?" Desjardins asked, his eyes hard.

"I don't know"

Desjardins nodded to someone Farid couldn't see. A second later pain blossomed in his stomach, as someone kicked him in the stomach, the breath knocked out of him. Desjardins knelt down in front of Farid and yanked his head up even further.

"I don't believe you, now Farid where did they go?" he asked in a flat hard voice. "You know what kind of pain I can bring down upon you all I want is a location."

Farid looked into the eyes of someone that he had always respected and found himself disgusted at what he saw.

"I don't know where they went and I wouldn't tell you if I did" said Farid filling his voice with all the loathing he could manage.

Desjardins rocked on his heels before he brought his hand back and punched Farid as hard as he could in the face. Farid's head snapped to the side, blood filling his mouth. Farid looked at Desjardins and spit in his face. Desjardins stood up, the bloody spit dripping off his face. He used the sleeve of his robe to wipe it off. He looked at the men and women magicians that surrounded the traitor.

"Members of the House of Life show this traitor our most gracious welcome" then with a twirl of his robes he walked away. Farid lay on the ground as he was attacked, until a blow to the head caused him to lose consciousness.

-o~0~o-

Farid painfully opened his eyes, everything hurt from getting hit from the fire ball and the beating he had received earlier. He tried to move his arms when he realized that they were pulled taunt above him bound in chains, his ankles were also chained together. He realized as he looked around that he was in the same prison cell the demigods had been. Farid looked down and saw that his body had already turned black and blue.

"Look who woke up," came a silky voice. Farid wearily turned to look at Paul, a magician that had always hated Farid, in his hand he held what looked like a riding crop. He sauntered over to stand in front of Farid. Uncrossing his arms he brought the crop to Farid's eye level.

"Those children got away, Farid, and it's all your fault" he snarled, raising the crop he brought it across Farid's face.

Pain was all that Farid felt as his head was snapped to the side. He refused to make a sound, as the crop spilt his skin open on his right check blood begin to gush from his check. Paul continued to rant to Farid.

"We were so close to them, but they managed to slip up to Mount Olympus before our agents could get to them. Desjardins has been taking his anger out on everyone but you, I'm not gonna making the same mistake."

Paul raised the crop again and was about to bring it down when a hand caught his. Paul turned his head to meet Desjardin's eyes.

"Leave" was all he said. Paul didn't argue, he turned to leave when Desjardins stopped again and just took the crop from his hand.

Farid watch Paul leave, he wished more than anything that he had stayed instead of Desjardins. He wearily turned his eyes to watch Desjardins as he paced back and forth, the anger rolling off of him in waves.

"It seems Paul has told you the news," he whispered in a deadly calm voice, "Though it won't help that sea brat at all?"

Confusion must have showed on his face because Desjardins chuckled. "You don't realize what you did do you? Do you even wonder why even after his friends gave him the Nectar and Ambrose he didn't get better? From the look on your face you haven't. I'll let you in a little secret, he's going to die because of you. The collars are only meant to hold one spell, as I recall you put another spell on it for his invincibility. The collar has poisoned his blood, the fever he is sure to have will continue to rise until his brains boil. He won't live to see tomorrow."

"No," Farid whispered, more to himself than to Desjardins.

"Yes Farid, you are killing him. Your spells are in his blood, and only you can cure him. Though it doesn't matter anymore, you won't live to see tomorrow either." He surprised Farid by throwing down the crop, "I don't need this, I know you, you will punish yourself because it's your fault a boy is dying as we speak."

Desjardins was laughing as he left the cell, Farid dropped his head onto his chest, a single tear ran down his check dancing in the torch light.

-d-d-d-d

Meanwhile on Mount Olympus the gods were arguing amongst themselves. Poseidon's voice raised above all the others.

"The Egyptians broke the law first; this young man saved all of our children" Poseidon paused and pointed to members of his family. "Zeus, your daughter would have been trapped in the first Nome. Hades your only son was saved. Hermes, two of your sons; Ares your daughter; and Athena your son. My son is dying, my only demigod son in fifty years. And this Farid is the only hope I have in saving him. If he dies how am I to tell Sally?" None of the Gods mentioned would look Poseidon in the eye, except for Zeus who meet his brother's gaze with one of his own.

"Just because the Egyptians have broken the covenant, doesn't mean that we can break it" said Zeus "Brother, I agree with what you are saying and so does the rest of the council. However the council cannot retrieve him, we will not scope down to the level of the Egyptians."

Poseidon's face crumpled, he dropped heavily onto his throne and buried his head into his hands not paying attention to anything else that was said. As soon as the meeting was over he left the throne room. No matter what Zeus or the Council said he was going to get his son back. Poseidon didn't get far from the throne room when he felt a hand drop onto his shoulder; he turned and was surprised to see Hades and Zeus.

"Brother, I said that the council couldn't do anything, but we are not the council, are we? Only a part" remarked Zeus.

"But, what about the covenant? You said we would be no better than the Egyptians" said Poseidon.

"Yes, we would be no better. But you are right Poseidon, if not for this Egyptian my only living son would be dead, and I do not like to be in debt to anyone. It is time to show the world what happens when you mess with our children" said Hades, in his eyes faces of condemned souls danced.

"I have to agree with Hades, it is time for the Egyptians to know the consequences for breaking the covenant" confirmed Zeus.

Poseidon was overcome by emotion; he surprised both his brothers by drawling them into a hug. "Thank-you" he whispered. Zeus returned the hug, and Hades just stood there, not used to such displays of emotions aimed at him. Zeus lead them to one of his temples that had been rebuilt since the battle. No one would bother them there as they came up with a plan. With their life time experience of war and schemes the plan to save Farid came together quickly.

At the table they all surrounded, a map of the First Nome was laid out. Poseidon, using a dagger was pointing out where each brother was supposed to be. With Percy being his son, he was in charge of the rescue mission. With the dagger he pointed to the area of the map that was the main market "Hades, here is where the main activity should be tomorrow morning, your army of dead soldiers will begin their assault here." He then dragged his dagger to the far side of the map that had a thin blue line drawn on it. "The river is here, while Hade's army is attacking, I will make the river flood the place, driving them to higher ground. The prison where Farid will most likely be is here" He pointed to building next to the Hall of Memories. "Zeus, while Hades and I are distracting the magicians, you will have enough time to find Farid and use you the master lightning bolt to burst to break him out of any cell" explained Poseidon, he paused and looked at his brothers "Are you with me, brothers?" They both nodded determination shining in their eyes. Poseidon straightened up and threw the dagger so that it landed right on the house of the Chief Lecture, he looked at his brothers and said. "We will attack at dawn."

-s-s-s

Desjardin was feeling good as he relaxed in his office, it had been almost a day and nothing had happened. The only thing he regretted about this whole thing was that his plan had not succeeded, but there was always another day, and other ways. He walked outside to the balcony, he looked at the place he called his home. His eyes wandered to the prison house and his good mood vanished. It had shocked him to find out that Farid had betrayed him. A slow smile spread across Desjardins face, the traitor will get what he deserved today, in an hours' time. His execution was scheduled an hour after sunrise.

Desjardins eyes lingered over the prison once more, he would visit the traitor one last time before he was executed. He grabbed the leopard skin that proclaimed him Chief Lector and draped it over his shoulders, he then excited his office. People where just beginning to get up, in an hours' time every one would be up. The guards snapped to attention as he approached and let him in without a word. When he reached the cell he ordered the guards to leave, leaving him alone with Farid.

Under his orders, Farid had not been given anything to eat or drink since his capture. What with the loss of blood, his other injuries, and the drain from the shield spell he was too weak to be a threat. If he tried to cast any spell now, it would suck what little energy he had left. Farid didn't even have the energy to lift his head to look at Desjardins as he entered.

"Farid you must know it pains me to see you so weak, I never would have expected you to betray me, you were my most loyal lieutenant that I had. But you showed mercy to those brats and helped them escape, and what gratitude did they show you. They left you here to die, to save their own skin. Let me ask you this Farid, was it worth it?"

Farid said nothing, for what was there to say. He had made his choice; because of him ten people were still alive. His heart cried for Percy, who because of him was condemned to die.

"You know I swore that I killed you, and it probably would have been a blessing if you had. Because you will not like what I have planned for you. Did you know I have a special gift with fire?" Desjardins held out his palm and a ball of fire appeared in it.

"I can get this to do anything I want it to do" and with that he threw the ball on Farid. The ball of fire caressed his stomach and rolled up his arms, burning the Farid's clothes and singing the skin and hair underneath. Farid didn't give Desjardins the pleasure of screaming, yet despite his best efforts a whimper escaped him.

"You are quite strong Farid, but there's an hour before your execution, how do you think your courage will last?"

Indeed within the next twenty minutes, Farid thought maybe it would have been better to stay dead as Desjardins launched fireball after fireball at Farid controlling where they landed and what they burned. Farid lay agony soon turned to numbness as his brain cut off the pain he was feeling. From outside screams of terrified people caused Desjardins to pause his fire throwing. It was then that a voice sounded in his head.

"Close your eyes"

Farid let his heavy eyelids fall, complying with the voice. Beneath his eyelids he saw a bright light, he heard Desjardins let out a strangled cry. He opened his eyes and he saw a man a tall man with white hair, his back to Farid, facing Desjardins.

"You" cried Desjardins gapping like a fish.

"Desjardins, you have something I want."

Desjardins opened his mouth like he was about to answer, but instead he began to throw fireballs at the man. The man just swatted them away, "You just made a big mistake magician."

The man snapped his fingers and a cage of lightning surrounded Desjardins, another snap and it was gone. The man turned to Farid, with blazing eyes of crystal blue. Farid flinched under the gaze of the man.

"Farid Iskban?" The man's voice was full of power, it sounded like thunder booming in the sky.

"Yes, who are you?"

"I am Zeus, Greek God of the Sky" explained the man as he raised his hands and a bolt of lightning hit the manacles that held Farid's arms above his head. They fell heavily to his sides, blood immediately began to pump back into them, they felt all heavy and rubbery. He looked at the place where Desjardins had once stood and then back to the God.

"Did you kill him?" he asked.

"No, I sent him to Mount Olympus, to answer for his crimes against the Holy Covenant. Now we must leave, my brother's distractions are beginning to fail."

Zeus grabbed him by the hand and hauled Farid to his feet, only to catch him when he almost fainted from the pain from his wounds. Farid nodded his thanks, and closed his eyes when instructed. Even with his eyes closed he still saw the bright light. A feeling of floating took over, when he was finally instructed to open them; he was in a room made of white marble. Huge thrones lined the walls, all of them empty. He turned to look back at Zeus, only to discover that he was gone and a God with a Hawaiian shirt and smelled of the ocean in his place. Farid stared into the eyes that were as green as the sea and saw great sadness in them. He knew who this was before he began to speak.

"Farid Iskban, I am Poseidon, God of the Sea. I come before you to ask for only one thing. My son Percy is dying, and Apollo says that you are the only one that can cure him. I already know how much you have already sacrificed for him. But I must beg of you to please heal my only living son."

Farid didn't hesitate. "Yes, Lord Poseidon, I will heal your son, if you show me where he is."

Poseidon nodded and with a follow me motion lead Farid to his personal chambers on Mount Olympus. Percy had been moved there the night before. Percy was in a bed, being tended by Annabeth and Apollo who looked up when they heard Poseidon enter. Hope filled Annabeth's tear stained face, she gently laid Percy's hand onto his chest and backed away to give Farid room as he approached.

Farid sat next to Percy taking the hand Annabeth had just let go of. All the exhaustion and the pain Farid was feeling seemed to melt away as he pulled on the flow of magic that was inside him. He began to chant under his breath, while reaching inside of his pack he pulled out a lump of clay which he fashioned into the shape of a boy. Farid began to chant faster as he reached out for Percy's consciousness. It was easy for him to read Percy's life and find his true name.

He brought the doll to his lip and whispered the name, glowing hieroglyphics appearing on the doll. He gently brought the doll down from his lips and placed on top of Percy's chest over his heart, putting both hands on top of that.

He turned his tired eyes to his audience, his vision beginning to go fuzzy. "He should wake up soon, the fever has been broken. My spells no longer affect him. As his invincibility returns he should heal faster" said Farid, the last thing he saw before he passed out was Annabeth and Poseidon's relieved faces.

"Grab him" yelled Apollo as Farid took a header off of the bed. Annabeth reacted fast and caught him, gently lowering him to the ground. Apollo rushed over and pulled back Farid's tattered shirt, catching sight of Farid's true wounds.

"Sick Egyptian bastard," he muttered as he gathered Farid into his arms, he looked at Poseidon, disgust still on his face. "This boy looks like a half-cooked steak, I'm surprised that spell didn't kill him, he's already almost gone."

Poseidon watched as Apollo left with the boy who had saved his son. He turned to his son when he heard the bed covers rustle. Percy was just beginning to open his eyes, his hair drenched in sweat. His eyes seemed to roam until they landed on Annabeth.

"Annabeth," he murmured reaching out and touching her face, as if to assure himself that it wasn't a dream. He then seemed to realize that he wasn't in the Egyptian's dungeon anymore as he glanced around. "Where am I? How did I get here?" asked Percy as his eyes darted around. "The last thing I remember is being in the Egyptians dungeon."

"Percy, you're safe. You are in my personal chamber son on Mount Olympus. I am glad that you are okay" said Poseidon coming over to his bed.

Percy immediately calmed down as he looked at his father before his eyes grew serious. "How did we escape, is everyone alright?" asked Percy. Annabeth nodded, and then proceeded to tell Percy of how he had come to be rescued.

Poseidon left in the middle of the tale, to go to a council meeting. All the Gods were assembling to decide Desjardins fate. The sight of Desjardin was suspended above the throne room in his cage of lightning greeted Poseidon as he entered. He made his way to sit next to his brother, as the rest of the gods assembled for the meeting. Desjardins remained silent until he saw Horus and Isis enter the room, and sit down in provided thrones. He began shouting profanities at the Gods until Hades twitched a finger and he fell silent. The Gods talked amongst themselves until everyone had assembled.

Everybody drew still as Zeus stood up, there attention focused on him.

"Gods of the Council, we are here to decide the fate of Desjardin, Chief Lecture of the House of Life. He is charged with breaking the Holy Covenant, set down at the dawn of our age. A law that has been unbroken until now, it is up to us to decide the punishment for breaking one of our most sacred of laws. The floor is up for discussion" said Zeus.


	10. Chapter 10

As soon as Zeus took his seat, Athena was the first to stand up. "My Lord Zeus, it is in opinion that Desjardins should be put to death. He broke the oldest of laws, one that has been in place since the beginning of our rule. Not only that, but he took my son and put my daughter in danger. Therefore he should be punished to the full extent."

It didn't surprise anyone that, Ares seconded her. The call for blood ran strong through them, to take revenge on the one who had harmed their loved ones.

Horus and Isis sat calmly and listened to what Athena and Ares were saying, waiting for the end to voice their opinions.

Zeus tried to curve his daughter's thirst for revenge. "Daughter, even if every-one in this Council agreed with you. We the Greeks must not sink to his level and break the Holy Covenant."

"But Father you don't know what we, the parents of the kidnapped, went through," exclaimed Athena, her brow wrinkling as she thought back on those hard days.

She had been worried and upset, all her instincts telling her to forget the rules and strap on her armor. She knew something was happening to her child, his blood crying out to her.

Even though the Gods were not supposed to show it, the Gods cared deeply for their children demigod children. But were not allowed to interfere with their fate, demigods may think the Gods didn't care about them.

The fact was that they mourned every time one of their children died in a quest; they watched all their children grow up and like some parents sometimes they forgot to do things or were too busy, which was the reason why so many didn't get claimed for so long.

No one knew this lesson better than Hermes, who was devastated when Luke had died. He had challenged fate and tried to change his son's path and it still didn't matter. He had gone through so much heartbreak when Luke died, and went through it again when he had learned Travis and Connor had been kidnapped.

Ares had responded by being more unbearable than ever.

Poseidon had worried the most even though he didn't openly show it. Percy was his only child in almost 50 years. It was a fact that they went after Percy first, and the true horrors of the event happened to him. When it was learned that Annabeth, Nico, and Thaila went with the rescue team Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon comforted each other even though they would never emit it. They leaned on each other like brothers were supposed to do, something that they had never done and it hadn't stopped there. They would have never been able to save Farid and capture Desjardins, if they hadn't worked together.

Athena and the rest of the gods were drawn out of their musing when Hermes stepped forward.

"My Lord's, my Ladies," said Hermes as he stood and faced the council, "I have an idea for punishing the Egyptian that would not result in his death, and it will ensure that an incedient like this will never happen again."

"Hermes, what is this idea" called out Apollo from his thrown.

"Well the Chief Lector, had a Collar of the Duat put on Percy to suppress his powers. I think we should do the same. If Horus and Isis agree, they should make a Collar that would restrict his powers and prevents him from our children ever again. If he breaks this or orders his followers to come after them, the Collar would kill him and place a curse on every Chief Lector to a slow death" explained Hermes.

All the gods were impressed by Hermes's idea.

"Maybe Hermes should be the new God of Wisdom" spoke up Hades, making many of his fellow Gods to laugh, Athena just shot him a glare.

Horus rose from his chair, the Greek Gods quieting as the Egyptian God began to speak. "I think this is a suitable punishment on a magician of our Parthenon. If you agree to this plan, Isis and I will have the Collar ready immediately."

A cheer came from the Gods, Desjardins in his cage began to pound on the cage, not caring that the lightening burnt his hands. Zeus looked around at his family. "All in favor of putting a Collar onto Desjardin, please raise your hand."

It was unanimous as every God raised their hand. Desjardins was able to find his voice again and began to curse the gods out from his cage above the council.

"You cannot do this to me; I am the Chief Lector of the House of Life. You have no right to do this to me" yelled Desjardin. "I hope all your children burn in Hell!"

Zeus just looked at him, and released the energy that made up the cage. Desjardin fell 10 feet, yelling all the down. He fell very heavily, and tried to do a spell. (The cage had prevented him from doing any magic) Before he could get the first syllable out, Desjardins found himself in a headlock provided by Ares.

"Hey, little man, you want to try that again. Because if I just apply a little pressure here, your neck will break, so go ahead try" murmured Ares into Desjardins ear.

"Ares get off of him" commanded Zeus, Ares reluctantly let him go. From out of her robes, Isis brought out a golden collar, the same color of the Gods blood.

"You will need to each put a little of your power into it to make it work" she explained as she used her power to raise it above her head. The Gods formed a circle around Desjardins the Collar floating above his head. Each stepped forward and put part of their power into the Collar and after all the Gods had done the Collar blazed as bright as the Sun, before it went dark. Zeus plucked it from out of the sky and placed it around Desjardins neck.

Desjardins curses broke off, as the Collar began to work. He clenched his hands as the Collar restricted his powers until he felt empty. He felt too weak to even lift a feather. He glared at the Gods who surrounded him.

"Desjardins you have been warned, now go, and never interfere in our business again," commanded Zeus, he raised his hands and sent a gust of wind that carried Desjardins back to Egypt.

After Desjardins was sent away the Gods held a celebration, Percy recovered enough to come. During the middle of the party the Kanes, Bast, and even Farid was able to come. But it wasn't long before they announced that they had to leave.

"We really wish you didn't have to go so soon," said Annabeth as she hugged Sadie.

"Yes, I never had chance to thank-you," said Percy as he shook Carter's hand.

"Don't worry, we'll see each other again" said Carter smiling in return. "We have been gone quite a while; it's time to go home."

"Yes it's time to go home, Uncle Amos must be worried about us" commented Sadie.

"Well don't be strangers, come see us at Camp" said Nico, which surprised every-one, he avoided looking at Sadie as he said this, and only Thaila noticed her blushing. Thaila bumped Percy drawling his attention to the couple.

"Never thought I would see that one," whispered Thaila. Percy just chuckled, turning his eyes to the last member of the Kane party. Farid stood awkwardly outside the circle, Apollo had healed him enough to be able to go with Sadie and Carter. He would now help the duo find other people with the blood of pharaohs in them. Farid meet Percy's gaze. Percy broke from the group and walked over to him.

"Farid, I will be forever grateful to you for saving my life" said Percy holding out his hand. Farid took it without a moment hesitation.

"Percy, it was because of me that you went through all that pain. Saving you does not even begin to pay for what I did to you" said Farid. Percy just shook his head.

"Farid we went through hell and back at the hands of the same person. It is only because of you that I am alive, I say that were even."

"Alright Percy, were even"

Percy just watched as his new friends left, his arm wrapped around Annabeth's waist. He was glad that he was going to go home soon. There he could begin the process of healing his mind along with the rest of his body. He knew that the next time that his mother asked him to go to a museum with her; he was going to say no.

-d-d-d-d-d-

Paul listened with disgust as Desjardins explained what had happened and what the Collar around his neck signified. How the traitor was still alive, in the Twenty-First Nome. Sparks flew off his fingers as he turned away from the Chief Lector. He pulled the hood over his head as he left what was left of the market place after Hades soldiers and Poseidon's flood. Someone was going to pay.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed, next chapter will be up soonish.


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